Brazil Sugarcane Group Slashes Crop Forecast

By

Paul Kiernan

Updated July 13, 2011 2:29 p.m. ET

SAO PAULO—Closely watched Brazilian sugarcane industry association Unica slashed its 2011-12 crop forecast for the country's key center-south region after production slumped during the first three months of the harvest.

Unica now expects center-south producers to crush 533.5 million metric tons of raw sugarcane, 6.2% less than the previous estimate of 568.5 million tons, published in March. Among the causes for the reduction were flowering of plants in recent months, crop-damaging frosts in late June, and dry weather...